GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The impressionist movement was born when a small group of artists, frustrated by their exclusion from the state-sponsored exhibitions of contemporary art, arranged to show their work together privately.
The roster of artists who exhibited at the eight impressionist exhibitions that followed between 1874 and 1886 was changing and diverse, but a core group today defines impressionism for modern audiences: Frédéric Bazille, Gustave Caillebotte, Berthe Morisot, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Alfred Sisley. They were drawn together not only by their shared interest in a new way of exhibiting their art but also by their common exploration of a new subject matter: modern life as it was lived in and around Paris. The impressionists explored new social types, new forms of entertainment and leisure, and new kinds of urban and suburban spaces during the 1870s and 1880s.
Landscape was also an important genre for the impressionists, and one in which their new approach to painting can best be observed. The impressionists championed plein-air painting, working outdoors and directly before their subject. The spontaneity of this approach was intended to preserve the freshness and immediacy of perception itself, rather than the imitation of visual experience that had been the traditional goal of painters. Visible brushwork in pure, unmixed colors creates shimmering effects, capturing the fleeting properties of light and shadow.
Excerpt from
DMA label copy, 2010.
NOTES
DMA Style Guide- do not capitalize movements
Removed TMS tags to be replaced by a rule- 1950.86, 1988.16.FA
Possible rule: This links to 823 objects; only the American and European departments because Samantha does not want linked to Dec Arts objects.
apply to objects where date_begin gte 1870 and date_end lte 1920
apply to objects where department_id equals 6 or department_id equals 4
IMPRESSIONISM:
• Appears "unfinished", a sense of the momentary
• Depicts modern life: industrial age, modernity, the every-day
• Open-air; "plein-air"
• Attention to the effects of light .
• A visual "impression", in some ways, an extension of realism
"European Art Recap: Main Points" document from European education files
Quotes on Impressionism from education file, European Art, docent materials, "Gothic to Vienna Secession" no author, no date
Impressionism
Monet's choice of title for Impression, Sunrise (1872), a sketchy view of Le Havre,
inadvertently led to the coining of the term "Impressionism." The art critic Louis Leroy
wrote the following about Monet's painting in the satirical journal Le Charivari:
"Impression, wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished..." The label was soon
adopted by others; within a year it had become an accepted term in the art world.
"Impressionism defies easy definition. Although it now refers to the most popular
movement in Western art, it originated as a term of abuse - applied to an exhibition of
works that appeared shockingly sketchy and unfinished. The artists who created these
works were united in their rejection of the old, "tame" art encouraged by the official
Salon [historical, religious, and mythological subjects], but their artistic aims and styles
varied. They did have two fundamental concerns: depicting modern life and painting in
the open air [made possible by the invention of metal paint tubes in the 1840s, which
allowed long-term storage of oil paints]. Yet neat group definitions fail even here.
Alfred Sisley, for example, had little interest in anything but landscapes, while Edgar
Degas ardently opposed painting outdoors. Despite their differences, Claude Monet,
Berthe Morisot, Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Gustave Caillebotte,
Edgas Degas, and Mary Cassatt developed a new way of depicting the world around
them, and, together with other artists, they displayed their work in the Impressionist
exhibitions held in Paris between 1874 and 1886."
-Jude Welton, Impressionism, p. 6
"Don't you think that one does nature better alone? One is too preoccupied with what
one sees and does in Paris...What I will do here will at least have the merit of not
resembling anybody, because it will simply be the impression of what I will have felt
myself alone."
-Claude Monet, letter to Bazille, 1868
"Colour is my day-long obsession, joy, and torment. To such an extent indeed that one
day, finding myself at the death bed of a woman who had been and still was very dear to
me, I caught myself in the act of focusing on her temples and automatically analysing the
succession of appropriately graded colours which death was imposing on her motionless
face."
-Claude Monet, remark to Clemanceau, quoted in Clemanceau, Claude Monet
(1928)
"Monet is only an eye, but my God what an eye!"
-Paul Cezanne, remark to Ambroise Vollard, quoted in Cooper, 'Claude Monet'
(1957)
Gauguin's criticism of the Impressionists: "They look and perceived harmoniously, but
without any aim. Their edifice rests on no solid base which is founded upon the nature
of the sensation perceived by means of color. ...The heed only the eye and neglect the
mysterious centers of thought, so falling into merely scientific reasoning..."(quoted from
Herschel B. Chipp, Theories of Modern Art, p. 65)
"The impressionists first thought that in discovering light they had found all that was
necessary to create an art of painting. Record the visual impression exactly as you see it
was their dictum. But they soon came to see that this was not factual recording. The
artist must intensify and transfigure his object to agree with his impression. Light is
morning light, or that of noon or dusk; it is the light from a summer sun or of a winter
day; it is the light of rain or cloud orblue sky. If painters are to deal with light alone
they must give us those instants. The cathedral fa<;ade, the haystack, the seascape could
be painted again and again from moment to moment. The subject matter, the object
recorded on the canvas, retreats until it becomes no longer subject matter, but merely a
perceptual motif over which numerous variations are played. The object is decomposed
through the agency of sunlight. On the canvas it is recomposed again through the
general harmony of colors. The painters make their analysis for the sake of a new
artistic synthesis. This is not the old imitation theory of art."
-Charles Edward Gauss, The Aesthetic Theories of French Artists from Realism to
Surrealism, p.22
A 19th-century French art movement that embraced modern subjects of everyday life and relied on optical mixing of color to achieve a more exact representation of color and tone. Most impressionists applied the paint on their canvases in small touches of pure color rather than in blended strokes, thus making their paintings look more brilliant. Many impressionists were also interested in painting outdoors in order to capture the changing effects of light and color at a particular moment. There were eight impressionist group-shows from 1874 to 1886.
From the Glossary in Ken Kelsey, Gail Davitt, Carolyn Johnson, Cecilia Leach, Diane McClure, and Catherine Proctor, The Reves Collection at the Dallas Museum of Art, Teaching Packet, 1995.
bromberg, context renaissance to 19th century, 1987, education files.
Impressionism made its appearance with the first Impressionist exhibition of 1874. In actuality it was not a homogeneous school with a unified program and clearly defined principles, but a loose association of gifted artists linked together by some community of outlook, who banded together for the purposes of exhibiting works which were unacceptable to academic critics. Edouard Manet is often called the father of Impressionism; however, this is hardly correct, for Manet did not exhibit with the Impressionists. In reality, Manet may be seen as the link between realism and later art movements. With the exhibit of Dejeuner sur l'Herbe (Luncheon on the Grass) in 1863 Manet's fate as a revolutionary was sealed. The subject matter was considered immoral; two women, a nude brazenly seated on the grass, keeping company in the middle of the woods with two elegant, fully dressed, contemporary men. Furthermore, it was shocking in its style and execution: flat, hard, and unfinished in appearance. The artist had eliminated the half-tones, smooth transitions and modelling required of a finished painting accepted by the Paris salon. Manet' s
direct break with accepted tradition did pave the way for the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. Claude Monet, the catalyst for the first exhibition, continued throughout his long career to paint the ever-changing effects of light and atmosphere. Unlike Renoir and Pissarro he never deviated from this Impressionist aesthetic. Perhaps the one quality that bound artists like Monet, Pissarro, Degas and Renoir together was the sense of immediacy and freshness of vision observed in their paintings. Their world was contemporary Paris, whether dancing in a rehearsal hall or picnicking on the banks of the Seine.
ASSOCIATED CONTENT CHUNKS
AUDIO ASSETS
Rain, Steam, and Speed: Turner and Impressionism 13318104: UMO
Impressionism and Post-Impressionism at the Dallas Museum of Art 13316515: UMO
The Relevance of Impressionism to Contemporary Art 13314484: UMO
Icons of Impressionism 13313196: UMO
The Lens of Impressionism 13309780: UMO
Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpiece in British Collections 13309589: UMO
Impressionism: Time, Light, and Structure 263220089: UMO
VIDEO ASSETS
See A/V digital recording list- Impressionist art in Reves collection- several lectures from 1995-1996
Richard Brettell lecture- 1989, 2003
IMAGE ASSETS
1985.R.40 Morisot, The Port of Nice
129998897: UMO
WEB RESOURCES
- Khan Academy, Smarthistory~Check out Khan Academy's "A beginner's guide to Impressionism."
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York~Explore Impressionism with the Met.
- Americans in Paris, 1860-1900~Read H. Barbara Weinberg's essay about this group of expatriate artists on the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.
- Art Access: Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Art~Explore this selection of lessons, activities, and images from the Art Institute of Chicago.
- Guide to Impressionism~Check out the history and techniques of Impressionism through the National Gallery of Art, London.
- Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris~View Claude Monet's 1873 Impression, Sunrise (Impression, Soleil levant).
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
- The term "impressionist" originated when critic Louis Leroy negatively reviewed the 1874 exhibition which included works by Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, and Claude Monet, among others. Leroy used the term to deride Claude Monet's painting Impression, Sunrise as sketchy or unfinished.
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
apply to content where content contains Impressionist
apply to objects where date_begin gte 1870
apply to objects where date_end lte 1900
exclude objects where department_id equals 5
exclude objects where department_id equals 1
exclude objects where department_id equals 7
exclude objects where department_id equals 8
exclude objects where department_id equals 9
exclude objects where department_id equals 12
exclude objects where department_id equals 60
exclude objects where public_notes contains architecture
exclude objects where classification_name equals photographs
apply objects where public_notes contains Impressionist
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
The impressionist movement was born when a small group of artists, frustrated by their exclusion from the state-sponsored exhibitions of contemporary art, arranged to show their work together privately.
The roster of artists who exhibited at the eight impressionist exhibitions that followed between 1874 and 1886 was changing and diverse, but a core group today defines impressionism for modern audiences: Frédéric Bazille, Gustave Caillebotte, Berthe Morisot, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Alfred Sisley. They were drawn together not only by their shared interest in a new way of exhibiting their art but also by their common exploration of a new subject matter: modern life as it was lived in and around Paris. The impressionists explored new social types, new forms of entertainment and leisure, and new kinds of urban and suburban spaces during the 1870s and 1880s.
Landscape was also an important genre for the impressionists, and one in which their new approach to painting can best be observed. The impressionists championed plein-air painting, working outdoors and directly before their subject. The spontaneity of this approach was intended to preserve the freshness and immediacy of perception itself, rather than the imitation of visual experience that had been the traditional goal of painters. Visible brushwork in pure, unmixed colors creates shimmering effects, capturing the fleeting properties of light and shadow.
Excerpt from
DMA label copy, 2010.
Fun Facts
- The term "impressionist" originated when critic Louis Leroy negatively reviewed the 1874 exhibition which included works by Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, and Claude Monet, among others. Leroy used the term to deride Claude Monet's painting Impression, Sunrise as sketchy or unfinished.
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- Khan Academy, Smarthistory~Check out Khan Academy's "A beginner's guide to Impressionism."
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York~Explore Impressionism with the Met.
- Americans in Paris, 1860-1900~Read H. Barbara Weinberg's essay about this group of expatriate artists on the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.
- Art Access: Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Art~Explore this selection of lessons, activities, and images from the Art Institute of Chicago.
- Guide to Impressionism~Check out the history and techniques of Impressionism through the National Gallery of Art, London.
- Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris~View Claude Monet's 1873 Impression, Sunrise (Impression, Soleil levant).
Notes
DMA Style Guide- do not capitalize movements
Removed TMS tags to be replaced by a rule- 1950.86, 1988.16.FA
Possible rule: This links to 823 objects; only the American and European departments because Samantha does not want linked to Dec Arts objects.
apply to objects where date_begin gte 1870 and date_end lte 1920
apply to objects where department_id equals 6 or department_id equals 4
IMPRESSIONISM:
• Appears "unfinished", a sense of the momentary
• Depicts modern life: industrial age, modernity, the every-day
• Open-air; "plein-air"
• Attention to the effects of light .
• A visual "impression", in some ways, an extension of realism
"European Art Recap: Main Points" document from European education files
Quotes on Impressionism from education file, European Art, docent materials, "Gothic to Vienna Secession" no author, no date
Impressionism
Monet's choice of title for Impression, Sunrise (1872), a sketchy view of Le Havre,
inadvertently led to the coining of the term "Impressionism." The art critic Louis Leroy
wrote the following about Monet's painting in the satirical journal Le Charivari:
"Impression, wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished..." The label was soon
adopted by others; within a year it had become an accepted term in the art world.
"Impressionism defies easy definition. Although it now refers to the most popular
movement in Western art, it originated as a term of abuse - applied to an exhibition of
works that appeared shockingly sketchy and unfinished. The artists who created these
works were united in their rejection of the old, "tame" art encouraged by the official
Salon [historical, religious, and mythological subjects], but their artistic aims and styles
varied. They did have two fundamental concerns: depicting modern life and painting in
the open air [made possible by the invention of metal paint tubes in the 1840s, which
allowed long-term storage of oil paints]. Yet neat group definitions fail even here.
Alfred Sisley, for example, had little interest in anything but landscapes, while Edgar
Degas ardently opposed painting outdoors. Despite their differences, Claude Monet,
Berthe Morisot, Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Gustave Caillebotte,
Edgas Degas, and Mary Cassatt developed a new way of depicting the world around
them, and, together with other artists, they displayed their work in the Impressionist
exhibitions held in Paris between 1874 and 1886."
-Jude Welton, Impressionism, p. 6
"Don't you think that one does nature better alone? One is too preoccupied with what
one sees and does in Paris...What I will do here will at least have the merit of not
resembling anybody, because it will simply be the impression of what I will have felt
myself alone."
-Claude Monet, letter to Bazille, 1868
"Colour is my day-long obsession, joy, and torment. To such an extent indeed that one
day, finding myself at the death bed of a woman who had been and still was very dear to
me, I caught myself in the act of focusing on her temples and automatically analysing the
succession of appropriately graded colours which death was imposing on her motionless
face."
-Claude Monet, remark to Clemanceau, quoted in Clemanceau, Claude Monet
(1928)
"Monet is only an eye, but my God what an eye!"
-Paul Cezanne, remark to Ambroise Vollard, quoted in Cooper, 'Claude Monet'
(1957)
Gauguin's criticism of the Impressionists: "They look and perceived harmoniously, but
without any aim. Their edifice rests on no solid base which is founded upon the nature
of the sensation perceived by means of color. ...The heed only the eye and neglect the
mysterious centers of thought, so falling into merely scientific reasoning..."(quoted from
Herschel B. Chipp, Theories of Modern Art, p. 65)
"The impressionists first thought that in discovering light they had found all that was
necessary to create an art of painting. Record the visual impression exactly as you see it
was their dictum. But they soon came to see that this was not factual recording. The
artist must intensify and transfigure his object to agree with his impression. Light is
morning light, or that of noon or dusk; it is the light from a summer sun or of a winter
day; it is the light of rain or cloud orblue sky. If painters are to deal with light alone
they must give us those instants. The cathedral fa<;ade, the haystack, the seascape could
be painted again and again from moment to moment. The subject matter, the object
recorded on the canvas, retreats until it becomes no longer subject matter, but merely a
perceptual motif over which numerous variations are played. The object is decomposed
through the agency of sunlight. On the canvas it is recomposed again through the
general harmony of colors. The painters make their analysis for the sake of a new
artistic synthesis. This is not the old imitation theory of art."
-Charles Edward Gauss, The Aesthetic Theories of French Artists from Realism to
Surrealism, p.22
A 19th-century French art movement that embraced modern subjects of everyday life and relied on optical mixing of color to achieve a more exact representation of color and tone. Most impressionists applied the paint on their canvases in small touches of pure color rather than in blended strokes, thus making their paintings look more brilliant. Many impressionists were also interested in painting outdoors in order to capture the changing effects of light and color at a particular moment. There were eight impressionist group-shows from 1874 to 1886.
From the Glossary in Ken Kelsey, Gail Davitt, Carolyn Johnson, Cecilia Leach, Diane McClure, and Catherine Proctor, The Reves Collection at the Dallas Museum of Art, Teaching Packet, 1995.
bromberg, context renaissance to 19th century, 1987, education files.
Impressionism made its appearance with the first Impressionist exhibition of 1874. In actuality it was not a homogeneous school with a unified program and clearly defined principles, but a loose association of gifted artists linked together by some community of outlook, who banded together for the purposes of exhibiting works which were unacceptable to academic critics. Edouard Manet is often called the father of Impressionism; however, this is hardly correct, for Manet did not exhibit with the Impressionists. In reality, Manet may be seen as the link between realism and later art movements. With the exhibit of Dejeuner sur l'Herbe (Luncheon on the Grass) in 1863 Manet's fate as a revolutionary was sealed. The subject matter was considered immoral; two women, a nude brazenly seated on the grass, keeping company in the middle of the woods with two elegant, fully dressed, contemporary men. Furthermore, it was shocking in its style and execution: flat, hard, and unfinished in appearance. The artist had eliminated the half-tones, smooth transitions and modelling required of a finished painting accepted by the Paris salon. Manet' s
direct break with accepted tradition did pave the way for the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. Claude Monet, the catalyst for the first exhibition, continued throughout his long career to paint the ever-changing effects of light and atmosphere. Unlike Renoir and Pissarro he never deviated from this Impressionist aesthetic. Perhaps the one quality that bound artists like Monet, Pissarro, Degas and Renoir together was the sense of immediacy and freshness of vision observed in their paintings. Their world was contemporary Paris, whether dancing in a rehearsal hall or picnicking on the banks of the Seine.
rules
Apply To
Content
content
Contains
Impressionist
source file
terms-0030.xml.nores